Wow njpg, you said a mouthful. Heavy, dude. Be all that as it may, I definitely agree with what I see as the main thrust of your argument: Shuddup and listen to the music!

Oh yeah, this is most certainly the 2nd half of "1-23" Spanish Jam. Listen to the details: the shakers, the snare rolls, the tempo, tunings, Weir's guitar. These are/were a bunch of reels of tape which is/was quite expensive. If they didn't use up on reel they would start with that reel on the next gig. 1" eight track? Expensive now, expensive back then, they aren'/weren't going to waste it.

Whatever the metaphysical issues of IDing the date, which utterly miss the point of having music to listen to AT ALL, oafs, this Spanish Jam as an experience is excellent Dead. Rate the music, not the freaking date!?!?! By all means, have these probably very interesting (to some) discussions about what time it is in the review box. For instance, how do we know that 1/27/68 as we know it now was really 47 years ago today? Maybe the earth swung too close to a wormhole that year and so it was really 47.348 years or 29.956 years ago! You don't know: or if we could know, then how? Even if we could know how, does it affect the experience of the sublime gained from lstening to this Spanish Jam? No! It freaking doesn't! In relation to time, the experience of the sublime re Spanish Jam exists a priori (from the very beginning, i.e. BEFORE TIME). So we could have that discussion too, but I still wouldn't let that affect how I would rate the performance by these musicians of this Spanish Jam. Am I alone in this? Why do you think there was anybody at this concert: to experience the concert, or to know what time it was?

I think that the Spanish Jam fragment here completes the "1/23" cut. It just fits too perfectly. I think one of these is mislabeled. I am attempting to adjust the volume on this tape and splice it to the original. Something tells me it will be a "perfect match". Can anyone say "reel flip?" This is a clearer tape, though... less wear.

I believe this tape completes the Spanish Jam that is cut on our "1/23" tape.
As other reviewers (and deadlists) have noted, the 1/22 and 1/23 Seattle shows were most likely actually played on 1/26 and 1/27. This tape is definitely from 1/27, since at the end, you can faintly hear Garcia saying, "See you next time we're in Seattle." (This was their last Seattle date on that tour.)
The "1/23" jam cuts off just as the Spanish theme is heating up. 1/27 picks up at almost the same point in the music, with apparently little missing (though there is a gap there, probably a reel change).
It's true that the total makes for a very long Spanish jam (at over 18 minutes, by far the longest of the tour) - but consider, it's the last song of the show, and they do seem to be dragging it out quite a bit. The length includes a fair bit of space - and the next longest Spanish jam, from 1/17, also comes at the end of a set.
The biggest argument against the match is the different sound mix. But the sonic difference isn't that great - one listener found that the 1/27 tape has the stereo image reversed from the "1/23" tape. Simply switch left to right when you compare sources, and they're much more similar.

The levels on this file are quite different from the other Jan/Feb shows, making it unlikely that this is a mis-labeled fragment from another show.
Phil is a bit higher in the mix, and this 12+ minute performance of the Spanish Jam is truly extraordinary. Snappy drumming and some amazing flamenco interplay make this sound like a Clint Eastwood/Lee Van Cleef gunfight. (97 pts)